European Capacity Building Initiative

ecbi Publications

ecbi's Publications and Policy Analysis Unit (PPAU) generates information and advice for developing country negotiators that is relevant to the climate negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  

Developing countries often lack the economic and institutional capacity for policy analysis. If negotiators are unable to engage proactively by submitting proposals, responding to proposals from other States, and assessing the impact of global climate policy decisions on their individual States, progress in the negotiations can be hampered by the lack of alternatives and uncertainity. The differences in analytic capacity between developing countries and the industrialised world are often profound – developing countries lack support from organisations like the OECD, for instance, which has an immense apparatus producing thorough and focused reports, including direct advice on future policy responses to each of member country.

ecbi publications aim to be relevant to ongoing negotiations under the UNFCCC, timely, and trustworthy. PPAU works with negotiators from developing countries, sometimes through Editorial Committees, to identify UNFCCC issues where further analysis and policy advice is needed. Global experts are then teamed up with negotiators from devleoping countries to produce Policy Briefs and Discussion Notes. This partnership between experts and negotiators helps to ensure that the process of producing a Brief addresses the specific concerns of developing country negotiators; builds the capacity of developing country co-authors in policy analysis; and also builds ownership of the analysis. 

For new negotiators, and for use in ecbi Regional and Pre-COP Training Workshops, PPAU produces Background Papers and a series of Pocket Guides. These generally provide a more basic analysis of issues for newcomers to the process, along with the background and history of the issue in the negotiations. 

You can use the search function below or see all our publications in one page here

News coverage of ecbi event during the 2017 Oxford Fellowship and Seminar.

Author:
Natalie Brown
Publication Date:
November, 2017

Are we doing enough to address climate change? Are countries living up to their promises? Are some doing better than they pledged? Transparency is key for answering these questions. This ecbi Pocket Guide, updated in January 2018, traces the evolution of transparency arrangements under the UNFCCC right up to the transparency framework under the Paris Agreement. It addresses both transparency of action and of support, and suggests ways to strengthen both these important elements of the global climate regime. 

Author:
Harro van Asselt, Romain Weikmans, and J.Timmons Roberts
Publication Date:
January, 2018

The Adaptation Communications can play a central role in identifying national needs and enabling international follow-up, while informing future action, driving ambition, and contributing information for the global stocktake. However, Parties to the Paris Agreement face a difficult balancing act while developing further guidance for the Communications, as they strive to make them useful and effective on one hand, and avoid placing an additional burden on countries (particularly those with limited capacity) on the other. This policy brief considers the challenges in light of the discussions that have taken place so far, most recently in Bonn in November 2017.  

Author:
Sven Harmeling, Alejandra López Carabajal & Irene Suárez Pérez
Publication Date:
January, 2018
Author:
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
Publication Date:
August, 2017
Author:
Benito Müller
Publication Date:
August, 2017
Author:
Publication Date:
August, 2017
Author:
Marianne Karlsen
Publication Date:
August, 2017
Author:
Stella Gama, In collaboration with Bridget Burns
Publication Date:
August, 2017

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